Reese

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I’d wanted the sensation of his soft scales under me. Between my bare thighs. I loved the sensual feel as we soared high into the still night sky.

“Woohoo!” I yelled as the wind kissed my cheeks and my hair flew around my face. “My God! The stars!” Brilliant stars scattered the sky above us, so bright and majestic. An ethereal melody coursed through me. It was like we were flying through heaven and I never wanted it to end.

We flew through a cluster of clouds filled with rainwater, coating our bodies with moisture. There was nothing more erotic than the way his wet scales rubbed against my naked clit. I squeezed my thighs tightly as I rocked myself against him. He roared into the night as I screamed out his name when an orgasm flowed through me, coating his soft scales with my essence.

We flew on as if we were going to fly forever and I would have been okay with that. Because up here on Adrian’s back, flying through the air, we were free. Free to be who we were, soaring through the sky, climbing to our highest potential.

After flying for a while, Adrian dipped, taking us down toward an island, void of lights and buildings, uninhabited.

He landed at the highest point of the small island, high above sea level. He didn’t get on his knees so I could climb down, so I stayed put. He circled around, presenting me with the most majestic view of the great, vast sea. Not another piece of land in sight. Then he snorted and I took that as a signal to hold on as once again, he took flight. But we didn’t go very far. He soared down to the beach, landing on the sand. He kneeled, and I took that as my cue to climb down. When I did, the dragon took off, leaving me standing on the wet shoreline of the deserted island, but I wasn’t worried or scared. I knew he’d come back to me as I watched him dive into the ocean.

A few minutes later, Adrian appeared in the breaking waves and headed toward me. I ran to him. He was naked of course and I handed him the shorts he’d given me to hold for him.

“That was so incredible, absolutely the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen or done. Thank you for bringing me along.”

He grinned. “My pleasure. I particularly enjoyed it when you climaxed all over my back.”

My cheeks flared. He kissed me, tender and sweet. He stepped into the shorts and pulled them up and then took my hand. “Come with me.”

We hiked up a sandy hill to the top of a smaller mountain that gave us a view out to the sea, but nothing like the 360 degree view the other mountain had given us. There, we sat on a log from an old coconut tree that had fallen over. 

“When did you have this done?”

I placed my hand over the dragon engraved on Adrian’s chest and like before the etching swelled as my fingers skimmed over it.

“Ah. I didn’t. It just appeared there about three years ago. I woke up one morning and there it was. When I went swimming as the dolphin that day, the dragon came out and I had no control over it. For some reason, the tattoo moves when you touch it. It’s never done that until I met you.” I placed my palm back on it and smiled at the pleasant sensation of it moving beneath my palm. I felt so cherished knowing I was the only one to experience that.

“Tell me about your ... dragon.”

“My dragon is the only other being I can shift into. Up until a few years ago, the dolphin had been my only shift, and I’d always found him to be more of a salvation than anything else. He’s my tranquility that I crave whenever things become overwhelming or too difficult. Some people drink or get intoxicated on substances, but I just shift into my dolphin. It’s been like that ever since I hit puberty. While my friends in school experimented with weed and alcohol, I went off to find solace swimming and jumping over waves in the ocean. Soaring smoothly and effortlessly through the water calmed me more than anything else, until ... the morning the dragon reared its ugly head.”

“I don’t think he’s ugly. I think he’s beautiful.”

He squeezed my hand and his lips curled into a smile. “There’s only a small trinket of proof in my family history to suggest there were ever dragons. After my grandfather died, I found this among his things.”

He pulled a medallion from the pocket of his shorts.  

I held it and turned it over in my hands and read the inscription.

“To each beast, there is a mate,” I read and looked at him. “Why do you think he never told you?”

“I don’t know. I was twenty-three when he died. Maybe he thought it would pass me by and why mention something that may never occur?”

I sucked in my lips, thinking about all the abilities that people like us have and how different we all were. “What do you think brought the dragon out?”

“I’d been extremely upset about that fiasco with Victor.”

“The one you referred to that night Victor came over to our table at the restaurant? Something about money and ... a girl?”

He nodded. “I’ll tell you if you promise no judging.”

I smiled. “No judgments from me.” I made the sign of the cross over my chest. “I promise.”

“Victor and I were somewhat close friends when we were in school and remained friends until I started Waterscape. When I started Waterscape, he wanted in. I was reluctant because it was my baby. Something I’d dreamed of since I first shifted to a dolphin and maybe I was feeling a bit selfish, but I didn’t want to share it, but he was my friend so I obliged, plus I thought it would be nice to share some of the responsibility with someone. Still, I only allowed him to purchase forty percent rather than the fifty he wanted. Plus, I’d already invested most of my inheritance from my grandfather into the company and Victor wasn’t bringing enough money to the table so I didn’t think he deserved fifty percent. I suppose that’s when our friendship turned into more of a rivalry.

“Waterscape has survived because of investors. Without them, it would have died long before the first phase of the construction ever began. Victor started doubting the project and wanted out. After a lot of arguing, I agreed to buy him out, but it left me financially strapped and I had to scrounge for the money to come up with enough. I was furious about his lack of trust in me and my hotel, and, though it’s not something I’m proud of, I was also pissed off about a woman we both had our eyes on. She ultimately chose him, and I couldn’t comprehend why she picked him over me. When I found out, I tried going for a swim, to take comfort in the tranquility of the water, letting the dolphin calm me. Find some sense of serenity in the sea. But it wasn’t working. So I got drunk instead. Something I didn’t do often. And in my inebriated state, I followed him and Lissa on their first date.”

My eyes grew wide as I stared at him. “You didn’t.”

“Hey, I’m not proud of it, and you said you wouldn’t judge.”

“Not judging.” I smiled. “Go ahead.” 

“After Victor dropped her off at the end of their date, I confronted him. We fought right there on her front lawn. Several minutes into our spat, the cops came and dragged my ass to jail. Sitting in jail and brooding only made me angrier, because they didn’t arrest Victor too. But I guess Lissa told the police I’d started it, which I suppose was the truth.

“I had so much anger building inside me. I still wanted to pound the shit out of Victor. When I was released the next morning, I was still angry and went straight to the beach for a swim to clear my head. When I pulled my T-shirt over my head, the etching of the dragon began to form. It hurt like hell, too, and I remember yelling in agony. It not only hurt from the mysterious inking, but when it finished my chest throbbed in pain. It didn’t stop hurting until after I dove in the ocean and swam, letting my dolphin go as fast as it could until I formed into the dragon and took flight for the very first time.”

“Do you always need to shift to the dolphin before shifting to the dragon?”

“Yes. I’m not sure why. But that’s how it’s been. I have tried to shift into the dragon from my human body, but it never happens.”

“Does it still hurt to change into the dragon?”

“It did. Up until yesterday, when Victor had you on the beach, my head pounded before the shift because the dragon was taking over, but it didn’t hurt to actually change. It didn’t hurt this morning either.”

Our gazes met, and he captured my face in his hands.

“Adrian.”

I pressed my lips to his, our tongues dancing an exotic tango. His mouth on mine was like fire, and I sucked in the burn, enjoying every flickering flame of heat. His hands ripped open the pareo I wore. Licking at my breast, he swore out a grunt. He dropped his hands to caress my hips and stood back as his gaze raked down the length of my body, from my head to my toes, before he took my mouth again. His large hands fondled and kneaded my breasts and then one of his hands slid down my stomach and pressed against my swollen clit, his fingers stroking the smoldering heat he created.

“You’re so slippery. And I’m blown away knowing you still want me after discovering what I am.”

I should be horrified by what he was. What he was able to change into was beyond the mind’s comprehension. But the truth was, I burned for him. So deep and far down inside, I doubted I could ever let it go. I didn’t think there would ever be a time I wouldn’t want him.

He called his dragon’s face ugly. Ugly wasn’t what I saw when I looked at that gigantic blue face. I saw a glorious creature, abounding with love and compassion. He could have killed Victor. I knew he wanted to, but he didn’t. When I realized he chose to toss him into some brush to cushion his fall instead, I fell deep and hard and completely in love with him.

The hardness of his erection pressed with urgent pulses against my thigh, and I nipped at his lip, wanting so badly to have as much of him as I could get. I moaned as he thrust two fingers deep inside me. I grabbed for the waistband of his shorts, tugging at them with desperate hands. These need to go,” I huffed out as I slid my tongue over his dragon tattoo, reveling in the way it swelled.

“Gladly.” He shoved them down, kicking them away. Then he tugged me down on top of him. I glanced at him and caught the same ferocious look of his dragon, so prevalent on his face it was uncanny. Wrapping my fist around his girth, I guided the wide head of his cock over my wet folds, pressing deliciously against my clit with each stroke. And then he took control, pulling me against him and thrusting into me, causing us to groan in tandem. He wrapped his large hands around my waist as he thrust deeper and deeper, creating a beautiful melody. A rhythm strummed from the finest violins.

Jesus, had I died and gone to heaven?